The Sydney Stein, Jr. Chair

Michael O'Hanlon is a senior fellow in Foreign Policy at the Brookings Institution, where he specializes in U.S. defense strategy, the use of military force, and American national security policy. He is also director of research for the Foreign Policy program at Brookings. He is an adjunct professor at Columbia, Princeton, and Syracuse universities and University of Denver. He is also a member of the International Institute for Strategic Studies. O’Hanlon was a member of the external advisory board at the Central Intelligence Agency from 2011 to 2012.

O’Hanlon’s latest book is “The Future of Land Warfare” (Brookings, 2015). Since then, O’Hanlon has written three Marshall Papers, the new signature monograph series from Brookings’s Foreign Policy program. They are, “Beyond NATO: A New Security Architecture for Eastern Europe” (2017), “The $650 Billion Bargain: The Case for Modest Growth in America’s Defense Budget,” (2016) and, with Jim Steinberg, “A Glass Half Full?: Rebalance, Reassurance, and Resolve in the U.S.-China Strategic Relationship” (also 2017). O'Hanlon is also the author of “Healing the Wounded Giant” (Brookings); and “Strategic Reassurance and Resolve: U.S.-China Relations in the 21st Century” (the latter with Jim Steinberg, published by Princeton University Press, 2014). Previously, he wrote “Bending History: Barack Obama’s Foreign Policy” (with Martin Indyk and Kenneth Lieberthal, Brookings, March 2012); “The Wounded Giant: America’s Armed Forces in an Age of Austerity” (Penguin Press, 2011); “A Skeptic’s Case for Nuclear Disarmament” (Brookings, 2010); “Toughing It Out in Afghanistan” (with Hassina Sherjan, Brookings, 2010); and “The Science of War” (Princeton University Press, 2009). He continues to co-author Brookings’s Afghanistan Index.

O’Hanlon has written several hundred op-eds in newspapers including The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Times, The Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Japan Times, USA Today, and Pakistan’s Dawn paper. O’Hanlon has appeared on television or spoken on the radio more than 3,000 times since September 11, 2001.

O'Hanlon was an analyst at the Congressional Budget Office from 1989 to 1994. He also worked previously at the Institute for Defense Analyses. His doctorate from Princeton is in public and international affairs; his bachelor's and master's degrees, also from Princeton, are in the physical sciences. He served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Congo/Kinshasa (the former Zaire) from 1982 to 1984, where he taught college and high school physics in French.

Michael O’Hanlon is a senior fellow in Foreign Policy at the Brookings Institution, where he specializes in U.S. defense strategy, the use of military force, and American national security policy. He is also director of research for the Foreign Policy program at Brookings. He is an adjunct professor at Columbia, Princeton, and Syracuse universities and University of Denver. He is also a member of the International Institute for Strategic Studies. O’Hanlon was a member of the external advisory board at the Central Intelligence Agency from 2011 to 2012.

O’Hanlon’s latest book is “The Future of Land Warfare” (Brookings, 2015). Since then, O’Hanlon has written three Marshall Papers, the new signature monograph series from Brookings’s Foreign Policy program. They are, “Beyond NATO: A New Security Architecture for Eastern Europe” (2017), “The $650 Billion Bargain: The Case for Modest Growth in America’s Defense Budget,” (2016) and, with Jim Steinberg, “A Glass Half Full?: Rebalance, Reassurance, and Resolve in the U.S.-China Strategic Relationship” (also 2017). O’Hanlon is also the author of “Healing the Wounded Giant” (Brookings); and “Strategic Reassurance and Resolve: U.S.-China Relations in the 21st Century” (the latter with Jim Steinberg, published by Princeton University Press, 2014). Previously, he wrote “Bending History: Barack Obama’s Foreign Policy” (with Martin Indyk and Kenneth Lieberthal, Brookings, March 2012); “The Wounded Giant: America’s Armed Forces in an Age of Austerity” (Penguin Press, 2011); “A Skeptic’s Case for Nuclear Disarmament” (Brookings, 2010); “Toughing It Out in Afghanistan” (with Hassina Sherjan, Brookings, 2010); and “The Science of War” (Princeton University Press, 2009). He continues to co-author Brookings’s Afghanistan Index.

O’Hanlon has written several hundred op-eds in newspapers including The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Times, The Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Japan Times, USA Today, and Pakistan’s Dawn paper. O’Hanlon has appeared on television or spoken on the radio more than 3,000 times since September 11, 2001.

O’Hanlon was an analyst at the Congressional Budget Office from 1989 to 1994. He also worked previously at the Institute for Defense Analyses. His doctorate from Princeton is in public and international affairs; his bachelor’s and master’s degrees, also from Princeton, are in the physical sciences. He served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Congo/Kinshasa (the former Zaire) from 1982 to 1984, where he taught college and high school physics in French.